Small Entry Style
Because our driveway and detached garage are in our backyard, we always come and go through the backdoor. I wanted to show you how we made slight improvements to our back entrance to make it a welcoming and beautiful space.
Of course, a welcoming entryway begins on the outside with a great landscape. The most important thing to us when we first purchased our home was to plant quick growing trees and shrubs to provide privacy from our close neighbors on either side. We chose Arborvitae Green Giants and they have quickly grown to 20-30 feet, creating a really intimate welcome to our backyard. Alex did an excellent job choosing a variety of plants that bloom at different times in the year to create ongoing seasonal interest throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall.
This is the view as you come around the garage into our backyard. I love the colors on the right. A pink climbing rose, Colette, and yellow Itoh Bartzella peonies mingle, while on the far side of the pathway is purple Nepeta ‘Walkers Low.’
At our backdoor, I put down two sisal doormats from Pottery Barn to mitigate the amount of dirt Alex can track inside in his work boots. I could vacuum every single day and there would still be dirt and sawdust all over our house!
On the left side of the door, we hung an antique wall-mounted plant holder that belonged to Alex’s great-grandfather. I love the look and practicality of the plant holder (we planted herbs as the backdoor is close to the kitchen!) and I was happy to be able to use an item handed-down from Alex’s family because I have so many things belonging to my grandparents in our home.
In the third photo, our Candy Stripe peonies and Itoh ‘Cora Louise’ were in bloom. The peonies were spectacular this year and I felt like I had a bouquet welcoming me home each time I used the back door!
The biggest challenge with our small entryway was figuring out how to maximize storage and functionality with very limited space. We do have a standard hall closet but it is located at the front of the house across from the front door. Instead, we hung a pegged coat rack to hang jackets, hats, and reusable grocery totes.
The boot tray is for Alex’s work boots and our rain boots, while the basket collects sneakers, flip flops and other flats of mine.
The area rug, basket and boot tray are from Target. This area rug is machine washable which is awesome for this high-traffic space!
Above our jacket pegs is one of my most favorite things that I inherited from my grandma. She stitched this canvas in 1956 (of course she dated the back!). As a surprise, my mom had it re-framed and it is absolutely perfect for our entryway as I remember it used to hang right inside my grandparents garage door. It is such a special piece and I will cherish it forever.
The Teak Shaker Pegs and Watering Can Key Holder are both from Terrain but it looks like they no longer sell the key holder. There are some similar ones on Etsy and Ebay!
When you enter the backdoor, you can either go left into the kitchen or right into the living room. We re-painted the entire first floor but at different times. I wish we had selected just one color to paint our entire downstairs as the flow is very circular and the rooms blend into one another. We did use similar-enough colors, all shades of light grey, but its a small tweak I would make if we were to do it again.
Anyway, the one other detail I want to mention in the photos below is the charming wicker basket that hangs in our entryway. Because we are constantly in-and-out working on the garden, it was important to be able to store our outdoor necessities right by the door. This basket is perfect to hold garden gloves, pruners, bug spray, sunscreen, sunglasses and much more. Of course, it is from my favorite shop JSH Home Essentials!
In the photos below you can sneak a peak into the two openings that flank the small entryway; one to the living room and one to the kitchen. When we moved in, there actually wasn’t an opening to the living room at all and I still think this is one of the best improvements we have made to the house!
The love seat and chair were my grandma’s. I think I will ultimately have them reupholstered but the fabric is still in great shape and goes well in our living room. I am still on the hung for an upholstered ottoman to go in front of the loveseat, though! I love the Liza Skirted Ottoman from One Kings Lane but I am dragging my feet on choosing a pattern. I need to order something soon because I always want a place to put my feet up!
Below is a photo from the online real estate listing when we bought the house in 2015. We opened the wall where the hooks and bench are in the photo below that now leads into the living room. It was a relatively low-cost investment at around $2,000 and it dramatically improved the flow of the house and added a lot of natural light through the deep living room windows.
